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In Avengers: Endgame when Thor and Rocket,

travel back in time to Asgard to retrieve the Reality Stone (Aether) from Jane Foster’s body, Thor meets his mother Frigga and has a talk with her.

At the end, just before leaving,

he summons Mjolnir and is surprised when it comes to him saying : “I’m still worthy”

Is there a reason why Thor doubted his worthiness to Mjolnir?

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  • 58
    Because he's spent the last half-decade wallowing in depression, PTSD, survivor guilt, self-doubt and ale?
    – Valorum
    May 11, 2019 at 7:18
  • 4
    Because he is Jeff Lebowski.
    – Navin
    May 12, 2019 at 17:40

3 Answers 3

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Because he’s not exactly been acting worthy at all during the 5 year gap.

He’s been wallowing in self doubt drinking himself to oblivion and raging at 14 year olds in online games. He’s then sat in his guilt and depression rather than getting up and doing something about it.

Incidentally this is probably the exact opposite reason for what makes Steve worthy. Steve is worthy because he keeps going no matter what whereas Thor gave up all hope and stopped carrying on, it’s quite surprising he’s worthy at all if anything.

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    Regarding the story line I think it was important that he was worthy as well. If the hammer did not come when he called he likely would have just stayed in that time and wallowed in his self pity without regard for the timelines...
    – Odin1806
    May 11, 2019 at 16:43
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    I think the things you mention here were just the side-effects of Thor believing he wasn't worthy, not the actual reasons for his belief that he was unworthy. @Stark07's answer hits closer to the mark -- Thor thought he was unworthy because of all his failures in saving people from Thanos, etc.
    – Herohtar
    May 12, 2019 at 7:03
  • 5
    If Thor 1 is anything to go by, being worthy or not might be an in-the-moment judgement by the hammer. It doesn't seem to care what you have done, just what you are doing right now. And at that moment, Thor isn't wallowing in self pity and yelling at Noobmaster while drinking his sorrows away.
    – Arthur
    May 12, 2019 at 16:22
  • The other thing to consider is that him summoning Mjolnir comes right after him talking with his mother about how depressed he feels over failure and not finding the right path. Coming to terms with that is part of his journey in the film to becoming worthy of Mjolnir again.
    – The Forest And The Trees
    May 13, 2019 at 8:27
  • @TheForestAndTheTrees I talk about that in this answer to the question on why was he worthy again.
    – TheLethalCarrot ♦
    May 13, 2019 at 8:29
43

When we see Thor at this point, the following things have happened in his life, from his perspective:

  • He failed to protect his people from Thanos' attack on the sanctuary.
  • He failed to protect his brother from Thanos.
  • In a fit of rage, and revenge, he doesn't one shot kill Thanos, which allows Thanos to wipe out half the life forms in the universe.
  • By the time he gets back to Thanos, Thanos has already made sure they cannot revert his doing. He has failed not just at stopping Thanos, but also at fixing what he did.
  • He then falls into a barrel, and completely ignores the remaining Asgardians.
  • He has lost his confidence, his mental strength completely.

By that point, he considers himself a big failure. Failure as a king, as a brother, and then failure as a son as well.

He's glad to see that despite all this, he is still worthy. Fits in nicely with the "who he is/supposed to be" thing as well.

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10

Thor had a really bad year, in not one but two movies whose events unfolded back to back (at most a few days apart). In Ragnarok he

  • Lost his father.
  • Saw Mjölnir smashed before his eyes.
  • Got kicked off the Rainbow Bridge.
  • Got captured and made into a gladiator, while Loki sits in the ruling class.
  • …all while knowing Asgard is being decimated under Hela, and he can't help.
  • Got roundly beaten by Hulk in an entirely fair fight, uh huh.
  • Caused Ragnarok.
  • Saw Asgardians decimated again by Thanos, including Heimdall and his brother (?)
  • And then all the stuff that Stark07 mentions in their answer that focuses on Infinity War.

…and worst of all, found out his Avengers password wasn't "strongest Avenger" but "Point Break"!

Five years gone, we find him depressed, drunk, obese and out of shape, trite, petty, and hiding from the world. Even on the mission he was more interested in alcohol than the job.

"Worthy?" Was a very good question.

Plus I think he really wanted to dual-wield Meow-meow (its proper name) and Stormbringer. Or at least loan it to Cap, to find out if Cap was faking in Avengers 2. It occurred to him that it could be borrowed and returned just as the Infinity Stones were.

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